Elina

I’m Elina 22 years old from Rovaniemi!
I study as a cosmetologist, and my previous profession is a surface treater (a painter). I’m interested in make-up and my goal is to move in Helsinki to study theatrical make-up.
I have tattoos that are important and tattoos that have no major significance. I currently have nine tattoos and more are definitely coming. The latest one is in my hand, a man with a commando mask and a pig.

The idea for this was born from an image which I found on the wonderful world of the Internet. The picture was a painting of a man with a commando mask and he was holding a small rabbit in his lap. There were rainbows and flowers around the two. Above it there were the letters ALF. I was interested in it because I had never heard of it before. ALF is an abbreviation for the Animal Liberation Front, an international, radical, direct action movement that seeks to improve animal rights and stop animal abuse in the food and fur industry and stop testing products with animals. In Finland, the business carries the name EVR, animal release front. I never thought that action would be so extensive. This was a fun discovery, as when I was a small girl, I wanted to be “foxgirl” (translated from the Finnish word “kettutyttö”), animal rights activist. And I still do!

Three years ago I came across to a video called on Best Speech You Will Ever Hear by Gary Yourofsky on Youtube. In the video, Gary Yourofsky lectured versatility and interest in vegetarianism. The video also displays footage from slaughterhouses. Before showing videos, Gary asks people not to look elsewhere or not to close their eyes, because if it’s not good for your eyes why would it be good for your body? In the video you can hear how a man beats an animal and shouts “HURT IT, HURT IT! YOU HAVE TO HURT IT”. At this point, I completely crashed. The emotional storm that the lecture had given me was enormous. Pain, sorrow, anger, frustration. I felt fooled. How can one accept such treatment? Even today, I can not look at that video without crying. Of course, to some extent, I knew what was happening in the slaughterhouses within the walls. But I had closed my eyes and I was living in this imagination world. I decided that now it’s over. I no longer wanted to support such activities. It’s crazy how one video can affect like that.

I have been a vegetarian for three years now. This is why I wanted the bunny to be replaced by the animal from agricultural production, with an innocent little pig. It is also a thrill of how people talk about loving animals, how they could never hurt or kill an animal, but still, support their killing by buying their meat.

The tattoo I have in one hand, the couple with a bow are Marina Abramovic and Ulay, two performing artists. Before I was about to take this tattoo, I was already reading about this couple and their work together. Their last collaboration was the performance called The Lovers, where they approached each other from the opposite sides of the Chinese wall, met in the middle and said goodbye to each other. In 2010, Abramovic performed a performance called The Artist Is Present, where she shared a minute of silence with every person who sat in front of her. At the opening night, Ulay came to the scene without Marina knowing and sat in front of her.

Last time they had seen each other was in the year 1988.

Work by @henriktatouage

The picture I wanted to my skin reflects human relationships really well in my opinion. You give things to the other one, including things that one can use to hurt you, but you just have to trust and hope that no one of your loved ones uses them against you.

The sun and the roman numerals are my family tattoos. The sun tattoo is for my mother and the roman numerals are my father’s birth date. My parents have always encouraged me and supported me and my brother. Mother has been the voice of reason and my father has always been excited about all of my ideas. The sun came mainly because my mother also has a sun tattoo. Now that I think of it, the sun also reflects our mother really well, she has always been the one who cares for me and my brother and keeps us alive haha. My life’s sun.

I’ve always been a daddy’s girl, though when I was little it was awful to stay home with my father when my mother went to work. We have a good relationship with my father and we have lots of things in common. We are just as stubborn and short-tempered. From him I learned that you can find humor almost in everything . As an adult, I appreciate my parents even more. In the end, the family is the most important thing and you can always come back to them if life throws you around too much.

During the first year at the cosmetology school, we made a deal with my friend who makes tattoos. He has actually made me six tattoos. I did him a pedicure and he made me a tattoo on my ankle, a decent foot job day. Little My has always been my favourite from the Moomins. She always wants to decide by herself what she wants to do and she loves to make little tricks for the others. Little My is feisty and peppy but always cheerful and friendly. Just like me!

Origami crane tattoo I’ve taken with my friend. She has it on the left calf and I have it on my right calf. She is a wonderful person who is always excited to get involved in new things. There are a lot of times when we’ve got into “If you do it, then I’ll do it too!” -situations. We also got nipple piercings together.
Other tattoos have come from either on a whim or after long consideration. Just because they have been great pictures. No deeper meaning. And I do not think that tattooing always needs to have a wonderful story behind it.